Former Football Association director Dame Heather Rabbatts says women's sport 'will find even more resonance' in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and stakeholders must have confidence in its return.

Since sport was shutdown by the crisis, the global response has highlighted the huge risks women’s sport faces without significant contingency planning.

Fifpro, the global players’ union, warned that coronavirus presents an “existential threat” to women’s football. Others fear that women’s sport risks going backwards if it is not prioritised when lockdown measures are relaxed.

But Rabbatts believes the family appeal of women's sport and the audiences it is building will allow momentum to build again upon its return.

“There have been a number of articles talking about the potential threat to women’s sport following the pandemic. When we hopefully all emerge from this, I think that actually the role of women’s sport will be even stronger," Rabbatts told Telegraph Sport. “I think that one of the things we’ve all missed is sport. Women’s sport was gathering momentum - particularly women’s football - before the pandemic. I think that momentum will quickly pick up once we are able to resume play.

“I actually think that women’s sport - not only its momentum, but the values, the sense of passion but not necessarily tribalism that women’s football has, the fact that it’s a game that’s enjoyed by families and by huge audiences - will find even more resonance in the future.”

Dame Heather Rabbatts
Credit: fifa

When asked about the stark economic warnings around the virus and women’s sport, Rabbatts - whose media rights management company Women’s Sports Group are negotiating the new Women’s Super League broadcast deal on behalf of the FA - acknowledged there are “some huge financial pressures on women’s clubs” but has called for context, insisting that the financial challenges do not “just pertain to women’s sport - they pertain to all sport.”

“I think it’s really important that we keep talking about the commercial impact on women’s sport,” she said. “There’s huge commercial impact. Every sporting body is facing major commercial challenges - it isn’t just women’s sport. Women’s sport, of course, will face challenges, but I think it’s really important that we don’t just seem to think that the commercial challenges ahead only pertain to women’s sport. They pertain to all sports.

“I think my message is just as we have confidence in male sports returning, why would we not have confidence in women’s sports returning? Let’s not suggest that women’s sport should be pushed back when I think it has huge resonance for fans, for audiences and globally.”

Rabbatts founded WSG in October alongside David Kogan, a media rights consultant Kogan whose company Reel Enterprises has overseen more than £20 billion of sports rights sales for the Premier League and NFL.

The pair’s involvement marks the first time the FA have aimed to sell the domestic media television rights for the WSL after years of showing matches for free, but Rabbatts declined to join the calls for women’s sports to return before men’s.

“I think they both need to be returned - hopefully simultaneously,” she added. “It isn’t about giving preference of one above the other - it’s about duality. It’s about ensuring that we support each other, and that the women’s game and the men’s game are equally important to fans and to the fabric of our sporting DNA.”